Attachment 1_Statement of Work (SOW).pdf

USDA FOREST SERVICE PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

KOEN FEDERAL BUILDING LAWN MAINTENANCE

USDA FOREST SERVICE

OZARK-ST. FRANCIS NATIONAL FORESTS

FOREST SUPERVISOR’S OFFICE

RUSSELLVILLE, AR

PART 1 - GENERAL

1.1 PROJECT

The Koen Federal Building is the location for the Forest Supervisor’s Office or main headquarters for the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests (United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service). The Koen Federal Building and associated grounds and parking lot occupy an entire city block at 605 West Main Street in Russellville, AR 72801. There’s also a warehouse facility located at 802 West Second Street that will also need to be maintained as part of this contract.

The Forest Service has a requirement for a grounds contractor to cut the lawn, perform weed-eating (weed-eating as defined as the act or task of trimming weeds and/or grass with a gas powered or electric string trimmer), perform edging along exterior/interior curbs, sidewalks, parking lot, borders, etc., and trim all shrubbery as needed or no less than twice per year as per Performance Work Statement standards. Lawn mowing will include all grass areas at the Koen Federal Building and warehouse facility. Maintenance activities such as weed eating will not be required inside the fenced area of the warehouse facility.

1.2 CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

Contractor shall have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), Tax Identification Number (TIN), and be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at www.sam.gov, and be registered in the Invoice Processing Platform IPP (treasury.gov) , prior to contract award per Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 4.1102.

The contractor shall provide all personnel, specialized equipment, supplies, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items necessary for grounds maintenance in a manner that will maintain healthy grass, trees, shrubs, and plants and present a clean, neat, and professional appearance.

1.3 PROJECT COORDINATION

Notify Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), prior to start of work. The contractor shall perform work in a manner that will protect the safety of the public and employees.

Mowing of the lawn areas for the Forest Supervisor’s Office and warehouse facility will be provided weekly during the active growing season (from approximately late March until the expiration of the contract). Usually four (4) mowings per month will be required until the grass becomes dormant or until the end of the contract, whatever occurs sooner. Lawn care will be performed during non-business hours. Office business hours are Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If the summer weather becomes droughty and the grass starts to die and less than the required frequency of mowing is required, the other lawn care services shall still be required to be performed.

1.4 QUALITY CONTROL

Upon award of contract, coordinate with the within named COR in the award letter before work commences. It is the Government's intent that expert and experienced workers perform the work described in this contract. The Contractor shall provide workers with the necessary skills and knowledge to complete the work in an expert and competent manner even if this requires bringing in outside help such as subcontractors or consultants. Please be advised that the COR will be maintaining a detailed diary of lawn maintenance activities performed and/or those required activities not performed per the Performance Work Statement. Said diary will be used in conjunction with Performance Work Statement in the award package to gauge contractor compliance.

PART 2 - EXECUTION

2.1 SPECIFICATIONS FOR REQUIRED LAWN MAINTENANCE TASKS

A. Lawn Mowing Activities (Forest Supervisor’s Office and warehouse facility) - lawn mowing activities will be inclusive of the following:

1. Mowing of the lawn areas for the Forest Supervisor’s Office and warehouse facility will be provided weekly during the active growing season. Usually four (4) mowings per month will be required until the grass goes dormant or until the end of the contract. Lawn care will be performed during non-business hours. Office business hours are Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If the summer weather becomes droughty and the grass starts to die and less than the required frequency of mowing is required, the other lawn care services shall still be required to be performed. If the summer weather becomes droughty and the grass starts to die and less than the required frequency of mowing is required, the other lawn care services shall still be required to be performed.

2. Edging of sidewalks, driveways, parking lot and curbs and weed eating/trimming of grass/weeds along buildings, flower beds, borders, around trees, shrubs, posts, poles and other areas inaccessible with a mowing machine will be provided with every mowing as needed. Use of non-selective herbicides (e.g. Roundup or comparable) in lieu of edging or weed-eating around lawn features (e.g., sign posts, guys wires, utility meters/poles, fire hydrants, borders, etc.) is not permissible around the Koen Federal Building. Non-selective herbicides may be used for grass and weed control along the fences and buildings only, at the warehouse facility.

Other areas around the warehouse facility will need to be edged or weedeated.

3. Undesirable vegetation in sidewalks, curbs, cracks and other hard surfaces need maintained so there are no weeds growing in them. Contractor can use a non-selective herbicide (e.g., Roundup or comparable) on them or cut them with a weedeater.

4. Grass clippings will either be mulched and/or bagged with every mowing. Mower should be set up for bagging the grass clippings or mulching the grass clippings (i.e., mulch mowing).

5. All grass clippings and lawn maintenance debris will be removed from parking lots, sidewalks, steps, entranceways, basement stairwells and driveways with every mowing. Basement stairwells are subject to overflow if grass and other lawn debris are allowed to accumulate and stop up the drains. The use of power blowers is acceptable, however, accumulations of debris must be removed from the site and not blown onto adjacent property, street surfaces, sewer drains, fence lines, stairwells, or planting areas.

6. It is the responsibility of the lawn care contractor to remove all litter and debris before and after each mowing. Care should be used to avoid blowing clippings into any of the porches, walkways, flower beds, sidewalks, driveways, stairwells, and parking lots. Grass clippings should never be discharged from the mower so as to cover vehicles in the parking lot or vehicles parked on the adjacent streets.

7. Mow all grass in all common areas of the property completely to maintain a uniform height not to exceed between 2 to 3 inches. Turf maintenance activities will be geared to favor Bermuda grass as opposed to other grass species.

B. Shrub Maintenance (Forest Supervisor’s Office only) – maintenance of shrubs/small trees will be inclusive of the following:

1. Trimming of shrubs, bushes and small trees will be provided as many times as needed, but no less than twice annually. It is strongly encouraged that the contractor does most of the heavy maintenance trimming of shrubs during the months of November through February while the shrubbery is not in full growing season. Outside of these months, trimming can be performed as new growth appears.

2. Crepe Myrtles will be pruned in February and Azaleas will be pruned after they have bloomed.

3. Contractor shall also make sure all shrubbery and vines are trimmed away from the building and vines are kept from growing up on the building itself.

C. Leaf Removal (Forest Supervisor’s Office only) –

1. In conjunction with active growing season: leaves, twigs, limbs and other vegetative debris will be removed from parking lots, sidewalks, steps, entranceways, basement stairwells and driveways with every mowing or in conjunction with other required lawn maintenance activities. Outside of growing season when regular mowings are not occurring, leaves, twigs, limbs and other vegetative debris will be removed from parking lots, sidewalks, steps, entranceways, basement stairwells and driveways at least twice per month. Leaves may be mulched with a lawnmower or raked/bagged and disposed offsite.

2. Contractor should anticipate one (1) Fall/Spring cleanup to be completed by March

1st (Note: Fall/Spring cleanup not required during base year depending on date of contract award) Rake out fallen leaves, clean out litter & debris from lawn, flower and/or beds, curbs and sidewalks.

Cut back any winter growth on plants, shrubs and bushes Clean up beds, walkways, sidewalks and foundations of weeds, overgrown vegetation, leaves, branches and clutter.

Trim shrubs and bushes Trim any dead branches off small trees that are within reach with no special equipment required.

Debris shall be disposed offsite.

D. Debris and Trash Removal (Forest Supervisor’s Office only) -

1. Trash and debris will be removed weekly in conjunction with other lawn maintenance activities.

2. The basement stairs and stairwells on the east and west side of the south face of the building will be kept clean and debris removed. These areas will be addressed with the same frequency as other debris and trash removal.

3. Contractor shall not dump any lawn debris into Forest Service dumpsters.

2.2 OPTIONAL LAWN MAINTENANCE BID ITEMS

A. Watering (Forest Supervisor’s Office only) –

1. Lawn, mulch beds/flowerbeds will be watered during dry periods as needed. There is no working sprinkler or irrigation system associated with this building or the premises, but outside faucets are available around the building.

B. Fertilization/Herbicide Applications -Turf and Bed Treatment (Forest Supervisor’s

Office only) –

1. A pre-emergent broadleaf herbicide will be applied once during the spring and again in the fall to turf areas. A single post-emergent broadleaf weed control application will be applied annually during each growing season to turf areas when broadleaf weed species are visibly growing.

2. Apply all-purpose fertilizer once during the growing season to turf, shrub and plant beds.

The following is a suggested sequence of these lawn maintenance activities:

• Step1 – Spring pre-emergent application before germination

• Step2– Liquid or granular fertilization + broadleaf weed control application

• Step3 – Fall Pre-emergent application

C. Mulching (Forest Supervisor’s Office only) -

1. All mulch beds (to include the mulch areas around the large oaks) will be cleaned and re-mulched annually (as needed) with hardwood mulch. Mulch is to be provided by the contractor. Old mulch will be disposed of offsite by the contractor.

D. Flower Bed Maintenance

1. Weed removal from flower beds will be performed as growth appears or at least once per month. Non-desirable grass or weed species growing within flower bed or mulched areas can either be removed by hand pulling, by mechanical means such as with a cultivating tool, or with the use of environmentally friendly species-specific chemicals as long as the desirable or preferred species are not adversely affected.

The following flower bed areas are excluded from this requirement:

1. The flower bed area adjacent to the sidewalk/flag pole area directly north of the

Koen Building to also include the area around the Forest Service portal sign.

2. The flower bed area directly south of the Visitor Center between the building and parking lot.

CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS

Contractor will warrant all work & supplied materials in accordance with manufacturer’s specifications.

Contractor shall be required to obtain any applicable permits as necessary to complete the proposed work.

PERIODS OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance will be date of award through: December 31, 2026, to include four

(4) option years.

Definitions

Broadleaf Weeds - The one thing broadleaf weeds have in common are their wide leaves with a main vein in the center leading to smaller veins that branch out from it. Other than this, broadleaf weeds do not come in one specific style and can be either annual or perennial. They can grow single flowers or clusters of blossoms. Their fibrous roots can be a single large taproot, a system of thin roots, or both. Some grow upright and some are close to the ground while some stems are round and some are square.

Some Common Broadleaf Weeds:

• Chickweed

• Chicory

• Clover

• Curly dock

• Dandelion

• Prostrate spurge

• Prostrate knotweed

• Thistle

• Violets https://www.cardinallawns.com/library/lawn-weeds/chickweed/ https://www.cardinallawns.com/library/lawn-weeds/clover/ https://www.cardinallawns.com/library/lawn-weeds/dandelion/ https://www.cardinallawns.com/library/lawn-weeds/wild-violet/

Grassy Weeds - Grassy weeds have their name because they closely resemble desirable grasses.

This often makes them more difficult to identify than broadleaf weeds. Grassy weed blades emerge as a single leaf from a germinated grass seed. They grow to be long with parallel veins and have round, hollow stems and hard, closed joints (nodes) with alternating leaf blades on each side.

Some Common Grassy Weeds:

• Annual bluegrass

• Annual ryegrass

• Barnyardgrass

• Bermudagrass

• Carpetgrass

• Crabgrass

• Creeping bentgrass

• All types of sedges

Mulch - A mulch is a layer of material applied to the surface of soil. Reasons for applying mulch include conservation of soil moisture, improving fertility and health of the soil, reducing weed growth and enhancing the visual appeal of the area. A mulch is usually, but not exclusively, organic in nature. Mulching is the process of spreading mulch.

Non-selective Herbicide - Non-selective herbicides are chemicals that are designed to kill or damage all plants that it comes into contact with. By spreading a non-selective herbicide, you are almost guaranteed to wipe out any vegetation (whether broadleaf or grassy weeds) present on the application site with a single spraying.

Post-emergent Herbicides - Post-emergent herbicides are used to kill weeds after they have germinated. These specialized herbicides must be used as the plant is actively growing and not simply green. Post-emergent weed control kills existing plants and must be applied with discretion as too heavy or widespread an application can kill nearby desirable plants.

Pre-emergent Herbicide - Preemergence means – before weeds emerge. The herbicide must be applied and then it will incorporate into the soil via rainfall or irrigation, and be present when the weed seeds are germinating to be effective. Pre-emergence herbicides have NO EFFECT on weed seeds. Preemergence herbicides stay in the soil for a while, preventing weed growth.

Weed or Weeds - a plant (either broadleaf or grassy) that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth especially : one that tends to overgrow or choke out more desirable plants where it is located.

Weedeating – The act or task of trimming grass and cutting weeds with an electric, battery-powered or gas-powered string trimmer.